All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'
by Secret Agent Girl
Summary: [6] [What are you doing here?]
1. Chapter 1

Title: **All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'**

Author: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)           

'Ship: You ask this… why?

Spoilers/Timeline: Pre-Phase One, Post-The Getaway, AU 

A/N: Title comes from a Dashboard Confessional song… and I love them so. This was something that just sort of… jumped out at me. So what the hell right?! Time to go back to the days where the UST was at its most heightened level. Ahh gotta love it. As Always, please review!

**Ch.**** 1**

He was going insane. Sitting there everyday writing report after report, countermission after countermission was driving him stir crazy. If he didn't do something soon, he knew he'd regret it.

            Michael Vaughn liked to consider himself a reasonable person. A man who didn't make immoral mistakes, at least not consciously. He was by all means a good, moral, upstanding man. He talked to his mother at least once a week, saw her once every other at bare minimum, dressed appropriately for his government job, didn't smoke or participate in the consumption of illegal substances, didn't drink heavily. He tried to attend Sunday services whenever he could and visited his father's grave every Sunday, provided he was in the country, to procure that it was being well kept. All and all he found himself to be a person that he liked.

            However, there was one thing, one particular thing that he despised about himself. One thing that was slowly driving him over the edge of sanity, and that was the fact that he did not have control over his emotions, at least not anymore.

            Once upon a time he had been quite content with his emotions. He had a perfectly nice girlfriend—granted, life could at times, be a bit dull and predictable with her, but there was nothing considerably wrong. They had a perfectly normal relationship and after a courtship of several years, he was seriously considering the possibility of committing to marriage, in part to shut his mother up. However, that all changed with the addition of one person in his life.

            She had entered his world, a whirlwind of swollen teeth, bright red hair and a fiery temper and after a few short meetings with her, Michael Vaughn knew that she was going to give him hell. (He often wondered if that was the only reason she had been placed on this earth in the first place.) 

He told himself over and over again to breathe during their short conversations, resorting in long hours at the ice rink to vent his frustrations on an unsuspecting hockey puck. After the first few meetings with her, he decided that he hated her. And while he had to constantly remind himself that she had recently been through a lot and was probably experiencing large amounts of depression in her solitude, he still resolved that he hated her. 

And then she had called him that night. The night that her father had stood her up for dinner and for the first time Michael Vaughn came to realize that Sydney Bristow was simply a scared, lost little girl who was forced into a life she most certainly did nothing to deserve and he found himself falling in love with her.

At first he tried to fight it. Telling himself that he was being simply ridiculous, he could not possibly be in love with Sydney. He was in love with Alice. But after a while, even Alice began to notice the changes in him.

"Michael." She had stood before him, a serious look across her face and her arms folded neatly across her chest as she stared at him, still in his coat, having just returned from walking out on her in the middle of dinner for the third time in as many days, to answer a page.

"Michael. You're a good man. You're loyal and moral and in the three years that we've been together we've never had any major problems. But now, now you're heart is just not in it."

Had it been a month before, he would have fought against her accusations, would have done everything he could to stop her from taking the suitcase that stood by her feet and walking out his front door, but now, unable to lie to himself anymore, he could only apologize.

"It's ok Michael. I know you didn't set out to betray me. And before you say it," she held up her hand to stop his protests. "I'm not accusing you of anything.

"I know that you would never consciously betray me. But these last few weeks, something has taken you from me. Whether it's just this new part of your job or someone else, you're just not here anymore.

"So I'm going to go, just promise me something Michael. That if it is someone else, don't just sit there and let her pass you by. Whatever it takes, go for it because you'll hate yourself if you never find out if she's the one. So just, don't sit on you ass doing nothing, ok Michael?"

And now he was sitting at his desk, over a year later, having to had just relive almost that exact same conversation (this one with a touch more anger and a few curses thrown in) last night when Alice had ended it for the second time and still he hadn't fulfilled his promise and it was driving him crazy.

"'Countermissions 'R' Us'." Vaughn straightened up from his crouched over position at his desk to see Weiss standing at his door, a clear plastic casing surrounding a crumpled up paper bag in his hands. "Man, do you look like hell."

"Thanks." Vaughn replied as he ran his fingers through his hair for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"What happened? Girlfriend giving you a hard time?"

"Actually, Alice left last night."

"I wasn't talking about the blond that you've been pretending you're in love with. I was talking about the brunette. You know the one who sends you cryptic messages through the trash disguised in a paper bag." Weiss smirked as he tossed the paper bag on Vaughn's desk.

"Eric…"

"Come on man. You know it, I know it and after France, Sydney knows it too. Why you were even _with Alice again was beyond me. And don't use the 'familiarity, I was lonely' excuse with me. We both know after Noah Hicks and Sydney went to Arkhangelsk you sought Alice out at that party."_

Vaughn sighed as he leaned back in his chair, pulling the bag out of the plastic cover and flattening it out. "I'm going crazy man."

"So do something about it." Weiss stated as he turned and left Vaughn's office.

He knew Weiss was right, as much as he hated to admit it. What he hated most was that he knew that he had to do something. Staring down at the crumbled paper bag he decided, that once and for all, he was going to rid his conscious of this plague.

He was going to tell her exactly how he felt.

He was going to act on it, really act on it.

And he was going to do so today.

Picking up the phone, he dialed the numbers ingrained into his mind and waited to hear the voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Joey's Pizza?"


	2. Chapter 2

Title: **All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'**  
  
Author: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)   
  
'Ship: You ask this… why?  
  
Spoilers/Timeline: Pre-Phase One, Post-The Getaway, AU   
  
A/N: This was a story that I never thought I'd write and I ended up really getting into it. Here's chapter two. Thanks for all the kind reviews. Oh, and the few lines that made me start this whole thing in the first place are in here… can ya find them?

**Ch.** 2****

_My heart is yours to fill or burst,   
to break or bury,___

_or__ wear as jewelry.   
Whichever you prefer._

            He began to pace. His heart was racing and sweat was pouring down his forehead. What was he doing?! Was he a _c_omplete_ idiot!? What was he really hoping would happen today?! Well… that was simple. He wanted her to say that she felt the same way. That she wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted to be with her. That she needed him in everyway that he needed her. And most importantly, he wanted her to not hate him for being completely willing to risk their lives for even a _moment_ of happiness._

            Rationally, he knew this was wrong. She had lost too much in her short life for him to even be contemplating the fact that they could be together when SD-6 was still around, but if he didn't do something, _today then he would go insane._

            Forcing himself, to calm down, he took a deep breath and sat down on one of the crates in the warehouse. His heart seemed to calm and his breathing began to lax as he forced himself to relax, remembering that it was only Sydney. And then he heard her heels click across the cold cement floor, and everything seemed to fly out the window.

            "Hey." She called softly as he stood and opened the fence for her, hoping to seem like he was acting completely normal.

            "Hey."

            "So you got my message."

            "Yeah." He took a deep breath and was about to say it, he was going to do it, when she interrupted.

            "So, countermission?"

            "Right." He nodded, a tiny bubble inside of him deflating. "So, when you get the disks…" He began talking through the countermission, only half of his mind registering what he was saying as he tried to go through it as quickly as possible before he lost all of his nerves. "And that's it."

            "Seems simple enough."

            "Well, you've done it enough." He smiled as she blushed slightly. "Look, Syd, we need… we need to talk."

            "What about?" She asked as she sat down on the crate he had been occupying before.

            "You know what." He whispered softly as his gaze fell to the floor. "Syd, this… situation we are in, it's driving me insane."

            She nodded and looked down to the ground, fear filtering across her face before she put up her mask. "I had a feeling this might happen."

            "Well, it was pretty inevitable after Nice."

            "I know." She sighed. "Just, make sure they don't put Lambert back on, ok?" She asked meekly as his head shot up and his eyes met hers.

            "What?!"

            "When you ask for re-assignment, just please ask them not to put Lambert on as my handler. The guy's an ass." She smiled slightly before dropping her gaze again.

            "Syd, I'm not asking to be re-assigned."

            "I don't understand." She looked at him questioningly. "I know we made a mistake and I just figured, what with you still seeing Alice…" She trailed off for a moment before taking a deep breath. "You know that I won't resent you."

            "Sydney." He took a step closer. "Getting re-assigned is the last thing I want to do."

            "Then what are you talking about?"

            He stepped closer to her and kissed her softly, catching her off guard. When he backed away she had a stunned look on her face. "I want to be with you." He whispered softly as she kept her eyes closed.

            "No." She stated softly as she dropped her eyes, refusing to look into his.

            "_No?_" He asked in shock as he stepped back.

            "I'm sorry Vaughn, but no. I… I…" She trailed off still unable to meet his eyes.

            "Sydney. We can't keep this up. This… 'crazy-tiptoeing-around-the-issue'… _thing_ that we've been playing at for the last year. I can't keep doing it."

            "I'm sorry Vaughn. You may be… I just don't feel the same way you do." She whispered, her eyes glued to a spot on the floor.

            He shook his head and laughed softly. "I don't believe you."

            "Believe what ever you want. That's the deal."

            "Then why can't you look me in the eye?" His anger was building.

            "Please, can we just... forget about this?"

            "No." His voice raised a decibel. "No we can't. Sydney, I can't keep doing this. I can't keep coming to this warehouse, giving you countermission after countermission and pretending that I don't feel the way I do about you." She kept her eyes on the ground as he took a step closer.

            "If you honestly don't feel the same way. If you can honestly say that your heart doesn't beat a little bit faster every time we meet, that your breath doesn't hitch when we touch, tell me and I will back away. Look me in the eye and tell me that you don't love me."    

            "I can't." She whispered, tears building in her eyes.

            "Why not?"

            She slowly lifted her gaze to meet his, tears falling softly down her face. "Because I can't keep lying to myself." Her voice was barely a whisper.

            "Then don't." He whispered back as he brought his hand up to wipe away the tears that glistened on her cheeks. "It doesn't have to be this hard."

            "Yes it does." She shook her head and took a step away from him. 

            "No, Sydney, it doesn't."

            "Don't you get it Vaughn? It does. I can't be with you. Not because I don't love you. Not because of the rules that are set by the CIA, but because of me. Because I can't go through what I went through with Danny. Not again. Not with you." She met his eyes for a moment before looking away. "I'm sorry." She whispered softly before walking past him through the gate and towards her car, tears streaming down her face the entire time.

            All he could do was stare after her.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: **All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'**  
  
Author: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)   
  
'Ship: You ask this… why?  
  
Spoilers/Timeline: Pre-Phase One, Post-The Getaway, AU   
  
A/N: The song is from **Dashboard Confessional**'s _This Ruined Puzzle_.  
  
  
  
          **Ch.**** 3**  
  
_I've written a note, _

_It's pressed between pages   
That you've marked to find your way back. _

_It says "Does he ever get the girl?"   
But what if the pages stay pressed, _

_The chapters unfinished,   
The stories too dull to unfold?   
Does he ever get the girl?_  
  
         He sat staring at his computer screen double checking every word, every comma, every period, making sure it was perfect. If he was going to do this, if he was going to _really _do this, everything was going to be perfect.   
  
         Sighing, he moved the mouse ever so slightly and clicked gently on the tiny button in the corner.  
  
         "Printing started."  
  
         The mechanical voice echoed around the room, two voices crying out his fate. Looking up at the door frame, he sighed as the shape of Eric Weiss stood the door swinging shut softly behind him.   
  
          "Hey there, Romeo. I'm surprised to see you here. I figured you'd be off with Juliet celebrating your final admittance of your feelings." Weiss smirked, wiggling his eyebrows in the air.  
  
          "You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Vaughn muttered, defeated.  
  
          "Mike?" Weiss asked softly as he took a seat across from his best friend. "What's going on?"  
  
           Vaughn shook his head softly as he heard the printer finish the final sheet. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." His tone was bitter and he immediately scolded himself for being so clipped with Weiss. After all, he put himself in this mess. "There's nothing going on." He repeated, this time softer, with a defeated look crossing his features.   
  
           "Are you sure?"   
  
           "Yeah. Can you do me a favor?" Weiss nodded as he kept his gaze on his best friend. "Can you just get the stuff from the printer?"  
  
           "Yeah, sure." Weiss stood and walked over to the printer, pulling the sheets from the paper tray. Glancing at the top sheet, he stopped in his tracks just a few feet from Vaughn's desk.  
  
           "Mike…Are you sure?!"  
  
           "Yeah. I am." Vaughn sighed as he pulled two envelopes out of his desk and held out his hand for the two documents. "Are you ok with that?" He questioned pointing to the top document.   
  
           "Well… I mean if this is what you really want. If you are totally sure. Because it's going to… she's going to…"  
  
            "I know." Vaughn nodded solemnly as took the documents from Weiss. "Can I trust you to deliver the second one?"  
  
           "Sure buddy."  
  
           "Thanks Eric."  
  
           "Mike…"  
  
           "I'm sure." Vaughn insisted as he removed a black pen from his desk and neatly signed them. Placing them into the envelopes he sealed them and addressed them carefully, aware that with each letter he was sealing his fate. Handing one to Weiss, he stood and got back into his suit coat. He sighed deeply before walking towards the door, Weiss walking behind him.  
  
           "Mike… are you _sure_?"  
  
           "For the last time, yes Eric. This is something I should have done ages ago." Weiss could only follow quietly as Vaughn walked down the halls of the CIA headquarters and stopped in front of a receptionist's desk. Glancing quickly at Weiss, he swallowed harshly before speaking.  
  
           "Can you tell the Director that Michael Vaughn is here?" He asked the older woman, who simply nodded before picking up her phone.  
  
           She spoke quietly into the phone before turning back to Vaughn. "Director Devlin will see you now."  
  
           Nodding Vaughn straightened out his suit coat and cracked his neck in preparation. "Good luck." Weiss whispered as he patted his friend on the back and slowly walked away.  
  
  
  
  
  
           He walked slowly into the warehouse, dreading what lay before him. Taking a deep breath he slowly entered the caged-in area, drawing attention to the woman that stood with her back to him.  
  
           Upon hearing his entrance, Sydney slowly spun around, poised to begin to apologize when her eyes landed on the man standing before her.  
  
           "Weiss?! What… what are you doing here? Where's Vaughn?" Panic slowly began to settle itself in the depths of her soul as she watched Weiss fidget under her gaze.  
  
           "He … um… Here." He reached into his suit jacket and extracted a white envelope.  
  
            Taking the crisp white envelope from Weiss and peered down at the script on the front. It was unmistakably his. The way he wrote her name, the curve of the letters, she knew that penmanship.  
  
          Peering up at Weiss for a moment, she was met with a shrug. Flipping over the envelope, she carefully broke the seal and slipped out the smooth white sheets.  
  
           Unfolding them, she was unprepared for the impact of the words that hit her the moment she began to read.  
  
  
  
  
  
           _Sydney__,  
  
             There are so many things in my life that I wish I could take back. So many instances where I wish I could reverse time and live that moment over again to do it right. I had never felt that way when it came to something to do with you. I have never wanted to go back and fix anything that I have ever done when it came to you. Until last night.  
  
           In a single instance, I broke every promise I have ever made when it came to my job. I broke every rule that has ever been laid down and I put you in a position where you were uncomfortable, where you felt you couldn't trust me.   
  
          I promised myself that I would never betray your trust. I promised your father that I would never betray your trust and last night, I broke that promise. And now, the only way I can truly rectify this situation, the only way I can make things right between us, is by removing myself from the situation.  
  
          Weiss will take good care of you. That I can promise. If there is anyone I trust to secure your safety, it's him. You can trust him. Don't forget why you are here. Why you are fighting as hard as you have been for the last 18 months. Never lose sight of the goal that you set so long ago.  
  
           I have every reason to believe that you will be able to finish what you started. Whether I am standing next to you or not. Don't let anything stop you. This is not just about cutting off the arm of the monster; it's about killing the monster. And I believe that you can do that.  
  
            Michael Vaughn_  
  
  
           When she looked back up and met Weiss's eyes, tears were flowing down her cheeks. The tiny drops creating pools of sorrow scattered across the words, the perfect signature bleeding.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: **All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'**  
  
Author: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)   
  
'Ship: You ask this… why?  
  
Spoilers/Timeline: Pre-Phase One, Post-The Getaway, AU   
  
A/N: So I lied. There really is no basis for any sort of value on my word, when it comes to when I'm gonna update that is. *sigh* oh well! Here's the next part. Thank you to my beta of this chapter. **You are everything and then some. The lyrics in italics are from ****Dashboard Confessional's _Rapid Hope Lost off their new album which I love *swoon*. _**

**Ch.**** 4**

_Do what you must if that's what you wish,   
I can't be a pardon to this  
You have a sense that you were born with  
You'll find a way to make things right._

          Blueprints lay scattered across his desk, covering every inch that wasn't laden with spiral bound manuals and pads of paper, filled completely with back up plan upon back up plan. The steady _clack of computer keys echoed in the silence of his office and his eyes remained trained on the screen, unmoving._

          "You'd think that giving up the case would mean leaving all of this behind."

          Vaughn's head shot up. He had been so enthralled in his work that he hadn't even heard his office door open and close, nor had he heard Weiss enter and approach his desk.

          "Eric." Vaughn breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned back in his chair.

          Fingering a blueprint, Weiss flipped through them gently, not meeting Vaughn's eyes. "I thought you were off the SD-6 case."

          "I'm off Agent Bristow's case; I've been brought back on for this assignment."

          "_Agent Bristow?!_" Weiss's head shot up, meeting Vaughn's eyes, a look of shock playing across his face. "Since when has she _ever been _Agent Bristow_ to _you_?!"_

          Sighing, Vaughn leaned forward in his chair, his elbows resting on his desk as he held his head in his hands, slowly massaging his temples. "Eric… I'm just… I'm just trying to distance myself from it all."

          "And this is how you're choosing to do so?" Weiss asked, fingering the blueprints, flipping through each one slowly.

          "I didn't _ask for this assignment Eric. But I know what it could mean and… despite what happened; I would never deny her this. Not this."_

          "Mike… I wasn't suggesting that you would…"

          "I know Eric." Vaughn sighed deeply. "Just promise me you'll make sure she's ok. Make sure she gets out."

          "Mike, I may not feel for her what you do but I always…"

          "Just promise me, Eric." Vaughn cut him off, his voice tense, the desperation in his eyes clear.

          "I promise." Weiss nodded softly, never losing eye contact with his best friend. 

          She walked quickly through the warehouse, her sneakers making an unusually quiet sound on the cement floor. She quickened her pace through the warehouse as the cage came closer, so that by the time she was there, she was almost at a jog. She wanted to get in and out as soon as possible. 

          Pulling back the cage, her mind fluttered briefly to a time when there was always someone standing on the other side, waiting to pull it back for her. Time had moved slowly, and while those days had been behind her for months now, her mind would always return to those days every time she pulled back the chain link fence. Every time Weiss's voice called instead of his.

          Closing the fence behind her, she folded her arms across her chest, bracing herself against the cold air that suddenly assaulted her. "God you had to pick this hour didn't you? You know, it is like, freezing in here?!" She bantered lightly as she walked the few more steps to be face to face with her handler.

          "Well, you could have, oh, I dunno… gotten dressed!" Weiss smirked, peering down at her pajamas, smirking at the flannel pajamas, laden with panda bears.

          "Hey, I like my pjs." Sydney smirked softly. "And besides, its late, I'm tired and I didn't feel like getting dressed." Perching herself on a crate, she folded her legs under her and looked up at Weiss. "So, you wanna tell me why I was dragged out of my nice warm house on one of the coldest nights of the year, at this insane hour?"

          Sighing, Weiss began to slowly pace. Sydney's smile faltered. It was times like these when the similarities between her former handler and Weiss were so apparent. When he began to pace, Sydney began to worry.

          "Eric, you're scaring me." She whispered quietly, fear filtering across her face.

          "Sydney… do you remember those disks you brought back from Tuscany?"

          Her mind began to race. It had seemed like a life time ago that she had asked for that countermission, had sat at that picnic table, furiously scribbling away the details of her SD-6 mission, waiting silently in the confines of her bedroom for the phone to ring, walking through the warehouse meeting his jade green eyes, feeling the pain of thinking that he was leaving, the rush as his lips silently fell upon hers, and the fear that came flooding back when she realized that she could never let it happen. And the pain she felt bearing into her back as she walked away.

          Nodding slowly, she swallowed the lump in her throat and forced the tears in her eyes to disappear. "Y-yeah. I remember."

          "Well, they got back from analysis about a week ago."

          "_A week ago!?_" Sydney stuttered. "Eric… I gave Va- _The CIA," she corrected herself quickly, "those disks months ago."_

          "I know." He sighed. "But there was a lot on them. And… Sydney…" 

          "Eric…spit. It. Out." Sydney urged the panic rising inside her.

          "Sydney… the information on these disks allowed a team of analysts and strategists create a plan."

          "A plan? Eric…"

          "Sydney… next Tuesday at 8 o'clock PM PST the CIA and all of its allies will make a simultaneous raid on all of the SD cells, brining an end to the alliance."

          She stared at him in wide-eyed wonder, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "Are you…_are you serious?" She whispered softly._

          Weiss nodded softly. "I assume you'd like to be apart of it?"

          She stared at him for a moment, his words registering in her mind before she nodded slowly, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "I'm in."


	5. Chapter 5

Title: **All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'**  
  
Author: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)   
  
'Ship: You ask this. why?  
  
Spoilers/Timeline: Pre-Phase One, Post-The Getaway, AU   
  
A/N: Italicized lyrics come from **Dashboard Confessional**'s _Bend and Not Break_ off of their newest album. Big heart there. Sorry for the wait. College admissions stuff (I got into one!!...now I just got to wait for the other .5) AP classes (DIE DIE DIE) performances and a million other things have been going on. For those of you reading the other things of mine.I'm trying to get them all updated this week.I make no promises, but I am trying. Love to you all.****

_I am fairly agile_

_I can bend and not break _

_Or I can break and take it with a smile _

And I am so resilient 

_I recover quickly _

_I'll convince you soon that I am fine___

He sat in the same position, his fingers moving mechanically across the smooth black keys, his eyes trained on the screen. Had it really been almost 7 months since he had sat in the same spot, typing out the letter that would seal his fate? Had it really been almost 7 months since he had last seen her, really seen her? Heard her speak, seen her smile? 

          He stilled his fingers over the keys, listening to the sounds of the agents as they rushed past his door, an excitement pulsing through the entire building. Standing, he walked to his door, watching as the agents rushed by, not noticing his presence.

          "John.John! What's going on?" 

          "Raid just got out.they're bringing in the higher-ups."

          "Casualties?" He asked anxiously, needing to know.

          "Couple of deaths on their side, couple of injuries on ours. One got hurt pretty badly, they aren't sure if she's gonna make it." His chest contracted. _Please no.not her.please._"But O'Connell's a tough chick. She'll make it."

          Relief flooded his body as he watched the other man walk away, closely followed by a tinge of guilt. This woman was possibly dying and all he could think about was how grateful he was that it wasn't her. A knot formed in his stomach and he quickly moved back into his office, shutting the door behind him. Sinking back into his chair, he tried to refocus his mind on the task at hand. This was something that needed to be done! But all he could think about was how she had finally done it. And how he wasn't there to see it happen.

          She stood looking into the abyss, the crackles and sparks of the wires as they pulled themselves from their places flashed blue and white all around her. The destruction, the appearance of a war zone.she had never seen anything more beautiful in all her life. She smiled softly as she looked at the room around her, the realization of it all flooding over her body. It was over.

          She turned to leave, only to jump back as she came face to face with his smile.

          "Geeze Weiss! Do you always have to do that!?" She gasped, slowing down her heart rate. 

          "What?" Weiss smiled good-naturedly. "I didn't do a damn thing. I was simply standing here, watching."

          "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sydney grinned as she took a step forward, enveloping a man who had quickly become one of her best friends in a tight hug. "We did it Eric. We did it."

          "No Sydney. _You_ did. None of this would have happened if you hadn't worked so hard. Congratulations kid."

          She grinned widely as she pulled away, looking at the ruins around her. "Look at this place. 9 years of my life were spent here. 7 of them not knowing a thing. And now it's done."

          "You worked hard to do it. We're all so proud of you."

          "Any word on O'Connell?" She suddenly turned serious, dropping her voice.

          "No, not yet. But you know Elyse; the woman will be back in the office Monday, ready to reject yet another offer of mine." Weiss joked, eliciting a smile.

          They slowly turned, walking towards the door, the smile never leaving her face. When she had only a foot left standing in the offices that had bound her to a double life for so long, she slowly turned and looked over the ruins once more, a sad smile crossing her features. She leaned against the door jam slightly, feeling the weight of everything fall upon her shoulders.

          "He would have been here, you know. If you had asked him."

          She turned to Weiss slowly, smiling slightly. "Come on, let's get out of here."

          Wrapping an arm around each other, the two walked slowly out of the building, leaving behind the sparks, the destruction, and a double life.

          His eyes stayed focused on the screen, his fingers moving swiftly once again. He had finally gotten back to the point where he could semi-concentrate on what he needed to do and he refused to allow anything to sidetrack him at this point. His fingers forced down the keys with a gentle ease, his ears trained only to the sounds of the _click, click, clack_. Reaching for his cup of coffee, he froze suddenly, his eyes coming in contact with the other person, sitting silently across from him.

          "How long have you been sitting there?"

          "A while."

          "How are you? I heard things went really we."

          "Why weren't you there?" She broke in swiftly, eliciting a sigh.

          "Because I couldn't be. I took myself out of that situation a long time ago."

          "That's bullsh-t and you know it. I read the debrief, you wrote it."  
          "Syd."

          "The entire thing reeked of you. The style, the way we moved in. You planned it out. We always said we'd go in together. Why weren't you there?"

          "Because I knew if I saw you again I wouldn't be able to do it." His tone was sharp, forceful. He was done playing games. "These last 7 months haven't been exactly easy for me Sydney. I've been going insane wondering if you're all right. Asking Eric whether or not you came back this time, injuries, if you've told him anything. You've been all I thought about and it's driven me mad."

          She stared at him, shocked slightly by his outburst, but unwilling to allow him to see the kind of effect that he had on her. "Then I guess we can't move past this.this infraction. But I'm not the one who left Vaughn. I'm not the one who left without so much as a word. That was you. You made the decision for us to have no form of communication. You made the decision to never know if I had come back from a mission. You made the decision to not be there today. You broke a promise to me in that respect Vaughn, and you left me wondering what it was that I did to make you not even come back for this."

          She stood, keeping full eye contact with him, never wavering. "Don't play High and Mighty with me. Because I'm the one you destroyed on your way to the top. So thanks for caring enough to send a letter, Mr. Senior Officer, but next time, don't bother."

          She threw a crinkled white envelope down on his desk before storming out of his office, slamming the door behind her.

          Grabbing the worn envelope, Vaughn slowly pulled out the piece of paper that lay inside. Unfolding it, his heart stopped for a moment.

          It was his letter to her, tear stains blurring the once carefully thought out words.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: **All The 'Best Deceptions' and 'Clever Cover Story'**  
  
Author: Secret Agent Girl (SAG)   
  
'Ship: You ask this... why?  
  
Spoilers/Timeline: Pre-Phase One, Post-The Getaway, AU   
  
A/N: Italicized lyrics come from **Dashboard Confessional**'s _Again I go Unnoticed_. ****

****

**Ch.**** 6**

_Please send me anything but signals that are mixed  
cause I can't read your rolling eyes  
out of touch,_

_are__ we out of time?_

He stared at the letter as it lay on his desk, the fold lines deep. His eyes kept focusing back on the blurred signature. Slowly, he reached out and ran the tips of his fingers over the once smooth signature.

"Tear stains."

Vaughn's head shot up and met the eyes of the man in the door.

"She opened the letter and just…cried." Weiss shut the door behind him as he made his way further into the office.

"Eric, I told you…"

"Yes, you told me, _six months ago_ that you didn't want to know her reaction. That it was _too hard_. Well too damn bad Michael." His voice was cold, his eyes boring into Vaughn's.

"You made me promise to protect her from everything. That includes you." He stared at Vaughn for a moment longer, his eyes never wavering. "She read that letter and completely shattered. When it came time for our next few meetings, she barely talked to me. It took me three weeks, _three weeks Michael_! Do you know how long three weeks is?!"

Vaughn looked deep into Weiss's eyes, reading them carefully.

"I never meant to..."

"Yeah, well, you did."

Letting out a long sigh, Vaughn moved slowly towards Weiss, collapsing into the worn leather couch against the wall. Running a hand through his hair, he closed his eyes briefly before speaking. "She came by today. She came by and she was just so…angry. She told me I…" sinking back into the couch, Vaughn shook his head slowly, trying to forget the anger in her voice, the pain. "I really screwed up Eric. Irreversibly screwed up."

"Then get up off your ass and fix it."

"_Irreversibly_, Eric."

"Oh stop being a defeatist. She wouldn't have come to you today if she didn't care. If she didn't think even slightly that you couldn't work things out." He looked at Vaughn pointedly. "Get up off your ass and go to her."

Cracking a smile, Weiss leaned back into the soft leather. "Because if you don't, I will."

Laughing slightly, Vaughn rose and snatched his keys from his desk, moving swiftly to the door, looking back long enough to grin at Eric before disappearing.

"Lousy Frenchmen. Always getting the girl."

He pulled up outside her apartment, double checking the piece of paper with her address scrawled on it. Smiling to himself, he reread the note written above it he had found taped to his dashboard.

_ About freaking time._

_ Francie and Will are usually out until late._

_ Don't mess up this time._

_ -Eric_

Glancing up, he watched her silhouette move around in the shadows of the fire light through her windows. Her form seemed to glide around the rooms.

It seemed as time sped up. For one moment he was sitting in his car, watching her shadow lift the glass of wine to her lips, the next moment, his hand was moving to press her doorbell.

The sound of her doorbell rang through his ears as he listened to her call out to him and approach slowly.

She swung the door open with a smile, only to slowly replace it with a frown.

"What are you doing here?"

"I've made a terrible mistake."


End file.
